PANAMAX 2015: Protecting a maritime choke point | BLOUIN BEAT: World

The multinational military exercises known as PANAMAX 2015 recently came to a successful close. The exercises brought together military units from 16 countries, mostly from the Western Hemisphere (i.e., the U.S. and regional partner nations) as well as some of Washington’s extra-hemispheric allies. According to a U.S. Army press release, PANAMAX is “a preemptive effort to respond to any request from the government of Panama to protect and guarantee safe passage of traffic through the Panama Canal.” As the world becomes increasingly interconnected, more goods traverse a limited number of maritime pathways, such as the canal, hence it is more important than ever to protect these “maritime choke points,” as Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan called them in the 19th century.